The head of voter services does not believe that is his department’s job.

“From what I understand from the solicitor that represented Phoenixville borough, they knew they had to do the boundaries of all the precincts,” said Chester County Director of Voter Services Jim Forsythe.

Advertisement

According to Forsythe, the borough’s redistricting committee, which is headed up by council members Jen Mayo and Christopher Bauers, is responsible for drawing up the new precincts.

However, Act 43, passed last summer and referred to as “The New Borough Code,” appears to only hold boroughs responsible for re-drawing wards. The law makes no mention of a responsibility for precincts or voting districts beyond wards.

“It is the duty of the county because they conduct the election,” said Ed Troxell, the director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Association of Boroughs. “It’s not implied, but you can more or less infer (that) from the election codes.”

Phoenixville Borough Manager E. Jean Krack said the redistricting committee is “only required to make changes to the wards themselves, not the precincts.”

With the way things stand now, if Phoenixville moves forward for the 2013 election with the new wards and does not have redrawn precincts, two different ballots would need to be used. Using two ballots could become confusing for voters and election officials alike, Forsythe said.

“For this election, we’re going to hold the wards as they are so the election will not be disrupted,” Krack said.

Following months of work by the redistricting committee, borough council approved new ward lines in November that evened out a population boom that caused the North Ward to have a population disproportionate to the other three.

Throughout the process, at times reminded by solicitors present at the meetings, the committee iterated that they were only to redraw ward lines and leave precincts up to the county.

According to Forsythe, that perception was a “misunderstanding.”

“From what I understand from the solicitor that represented Phoenixville borough, they knew they had to do the boundaries of all the precincts,” Forsythe said.

It is unclear whether that solicitor was Phoenixville’s regular solicitor, Andrew Rau. Attempts to contact him Friday were unsuccessful.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Rau did not give the impression that he agreed with Forsythe, saying borough council and the redistricting committee “did everything they’re supposed to do under the law.”

Forsythe also said that he “volunteered (his) services last year to the borough” when things were starting off, but he never got any calls to help.

Mayor Leo Scoda, who brought the issue up during his report at the end of the meeting, expressed his disdain over the situation.

Postponing political redistricting for the 2013 election is problematic because it is an election tied intimately to local politics.

“Next year won’t mean a hill of beans,” Scoda said. “There’s an unfairness here that if the wards stay the same, the (high population of the North Ward) dilutes the votes of the people on the north side.”

Four seats are up for election in 2013: Kirkner’s North Ward seat, Karl Bucus in the Middle Ward, Dave Gautreau in the East Ward and Dana Dugan in the West Ward.

Scoda suggested possibly taking legal action against the county to solve the issue.

For now, the council resolved unanimously to send a letter to the Chester County commissioners compelling those in voter services to “do their jobs,” as Councilman Jim Kovaleski put it while making the motion.

About the Author

Frank Otto is a general assignment reporter covering Phoenixville, Limerick and Spring-Ford schools in addition to features and spot news. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Otto moonlights with the sports department on occasion. Reach the author at fotto@pottsmerc.com
or follow Frank on Twitter: @fottojourno.